• T Kratz, M Exner, M Campo dell'Orto, N Timmesfeld, K F Schüttler, T Efe, M Zoremba, H Wulf, and T Steinfeldt.
• Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Philipps-University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
• Technol Health Care. 2016 May 18; 24 (3): 309-15.

BackgroundThe intraoperative application of focused transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is often considered to be restricted. Echocardiography with pocket-sized hand held ultrasound systems has been shown to be feasible in various settings.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of the intraoperative application of pocket-sized echocardiography and the comparison of its imaging quality and diagnostic reliability and variability with a standard ultrasound system.MethodsAfter written informed consent, TTE was performed on 40 anaesthetised general, vascular, visceral, thoracic surgical and orthopaedic patients according to the FATE protocol: first, with a pocket-sized and second, with a high-end ultrasound system randomly by two anaesthetists. Imaging quality of four basic and three additional FATE views was rated on an established scale from 1 (impossible) to 5 (perfect). Successful TTE was defined, if one basic FATE views would be rated as grade 4 or 5 or alternatively two views as grade 3. Pathologic findings by both ultrasound devices were documented and imaging quality and pathologic findings were compared.ResultsAll 40 patients presented acceptable imaging quality, resulting in a success rate of 1.0 (97.5%-CI 0.91-1, p= 0.015). The individual imaging ratings of each view were significantly lower with the pocket-sized system, but still showed acceptable imaging quality. With the high-end device more pathologic findings were detected (107 vs. 87), but none of the relevant or severe pathologies were overseen with the hand-held device.ConclusionThe application of a pocket-sized echocardiography device for focused intraoperative TTE is feasible and can appropriate be used for the initial evaluation of relevant pathologies in the operating theatre.

14 keywords...

hide…